Evaluation of electronic stability control effectiveness in Australasia

Electronic stability control (ESC) is an in-vehicle technology aimed at improving primary safety by assisting the driver in avoiding loss of control of the vehicle. The aim of this study was to use available crash data from Australia and New Zealand to evaluate the effectiveness of ESC in reducing crash risk and to establish whether benefits estimated from overseas studies have translated to the Australian and New Zealand environments. The sample analysed included 7699 crashed vehicles fitted with ESC which comprised of 90 different models. Poisson regression was used to test whether the differences in the observed and expected crash counts for ESC fitted vehicles were significant, with exposure being induced from counts of rear end impacts. It was found that ESC reduced the risk of single vehicle crashes in which the driver was injured by 68% for 4WDs compared with 27% for passenger cars. The effect of ESC on multiple vehicle crashes in Australia and New Zealand was not clear. The long-term benefits of fitting ESC to all vehicles in Australia were also investigated based on the estimated single vehicle crash reductions.